Mattis hints at secret 'kinetic' military options for North Korea

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arriving for a news conference at Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan.Thomson Reuters

Defense
Secretary Jim Mattis hinted that the United States still had
military options left for dealing with North Korea, but did not
elaborate
when asked for details Monday.

Most
experts think a military strike on North Korea would invite a
devastating response from Pyongyang. The city of Seoul, South
Korea, home to 25 million, is well within artillery range of the
North, which would most likely use conventional artillery
munitions and chemical weapons.

But according to Mattis, the Pentagon has a few tricks up its
sleeve that wouldn't involve the decimation of Seoul.

When asked whether there was "any military option the US can take
with North Korea that would not put Seoul at grave risk," Mattis
responded, "Yes, there are, but I will not go into details."

Previously, Mattis
said a war with North Korea would "involve the massive
shelling of an ally's capital, which is one of the most densely
packed cities on earth," referring to Seoul.

It's difficult to understand what the Pentagon could do to stop a
North Korean nuclear program or take out its leader, Kim Jong Un,
while preventing Pyongyang from fighting back. Artillery,
rockets, missiles, and other munitions are scattered throughout
the North - many in secret locations - and Kim's government
maintains an ironclad hold on power.

And with every known military option - from launching Tomahawk
cruise missiles to airstrikes - North Korea is likely to
interpret any strike, however limited, "as a prelude to invading
or overthrowing the government, even if the United States insists
otherwise,"
The Atlantic reported, citing Daryl Press, a scholar of
nuclear deterrence at Dartmouth College.

So what does Mattis have in mind? He wouldn't say, but he did let
slip one interesting comment.

"Just to clarify, you said that there were possible military
options that would not create a grave risk to Seoul," a reporter
said later. "Are we talking kinetic options as well?"

"Yes, I don't want to go into that," Mattis said, agreeing that
his closely held military option involved kinetic action, a
euphemism to describe lethal military force.

President Donald Trump
in a speech to the United Nations on Tuesday threatened to
"totally destroy North Korea" if Pyongyang didn't back down on
its nuclear provocations.

"It is an outrage that some nations would not only trade with
such a regime, but arm, supply, and financially support a country
that imperils the world with nuclear conflict," Trump said.